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Morocco’s King Pardons Journalist Sentenced on Abortion Charge Morocco’s King Pardons Journalist Sentenced on Abortion Charge
(about 2 hours later)
Morocco’s king has pardoned Hajar Raissouni, a journalist sentenced to a year in prison last month for extramarital sex and an abortion she denied having, the Justice Ministry said on Wednesday. Morocco’s king pardoned Hajar Raissouni, a journalist for an independent newspaper who was sentenced to a year in prison for an abortion that she denied having, the country’s ministry of justice said on Wednesday.
The case of Ms. Raissouni, who had denied the charges against her, outraged human rights activists who said she had been targeted for her work for a newspaper that has criticized the state, and because she is the niece of a prominent Islamist. The king also pardoned her fiancé, a doctor and two of his colleagues. The ministry characterized the pardon as an act of “compassion and mercy,” saying that King Mohammed VI wanted to “preserve the future of the two fiancés who planned to found a family in accordance with religious precepts and the law.”
The Justice Ministry described King Mohammed VI’s intervention in the case as “an act of compassion and mercy,” adding that Ms. Raissouni and her fiancé had wanted to establish a family legally. But human rights advocates said that Ms. Raissouni’s conviction was unjust and politically motivated, and that it exemplified the state’s persecution of independent journalists. The king also pardoned her fiancé and three medical office workers.
The case drew widespread criticism from both Moroccan and foreign rights activists, who painted it as an attack on the free press and on civil rights. The case sparked weeks of outrage in the North African kingdom, with many speaking out in defense of press freedoms and others asking for reforms to the penal code. Ms. Raissouni and her fiancé, Rifaat al-Amin, had been sentenced to one year in prison.
Extramarital sex and abortion are crimes in Morocco, a mostly orthodox Muslim country. “We’re relieved that Hajar and her co-defendents are free, but they should have never been arrested in the first place,” said Ahmed Benchemsi, communications director for Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “A silver lining for this deplorable incident is that a debate was opened about archaic laws in Morocco, and now there’s a growing demand to repeal criminalization of nonmarital sex from legal books.”
However, the Moroccan Association for Abortion Rights, an activist group, said 600 to 800 abortions take place illegally each day. In 2018, 41 cases were brought over illegal abortions, according to a report released by the prosecutor’s office. Ms. Raissouni, 28, works for an independent daily newspaper, Akhbar Al Yaoum, that is critical of the state. She and Mr. al-Amin were arrested on Aug. 31 — just two weeks before their wedding — as they were leaving a gynecologist’s office in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.
Ms. Raissouni, 28, works for Akhbar al-Youm, an independent newspaper that has been critical of the Moroccan state, and is the niece of a Muslim theologian who is a former leader of a politically influential Islamist group. They were charged with having sex outside of marriage and an abortion, both crimes in Morocco. Ms. Raissouni said she sought treatment after she had suffered a blood clot, and her co-defendants also denied that an abortion ever took place.
Ms. Raissouni said the police had taken her for forcible medical checks against her will and had asked her about her work at the newspaper and about her uncles. A physician, Dr. Jamal Belkeziz, was sentenced to two years in prison. A second doctor and an office assistant were also found guilty of taking part in the procedure, but the judge gave them suspended sentences.
Her lawyers and rights activists said the checks without her consent amounted to torture. “The recent release of Hajar Raissouni, her fiancé and the doctor brings about new hope for the Moroccan political and activist scene. It shows that activism and campaigning give results,” said Fayrouz Yousfi, a doctoral student and political activist behind an online campaign to free Ms. Raissouni. “Unfortunately, royal pardons cannot be the answer for all arrests that are politically motivated. Justice should be done for all activists, human rights activists and journalists who are put behind bars.”
In court, the prosecutor dismissed any suggestion of procedural irregularities, and said that the circumstances of Ms. Raissouni’s arrest had been legal and the case had nothing to do with her work as a journalist. In 2016, prison sentences were abolished for infractions to Morocco’s laws governing the press. However, press freedom watchdogs have reported that the state has been increasingly prosecuting journalists for matters unrelated to their reporting. Reporters Without Borders ranks Morocco 135th in its annual press freedom index.
Ms. Raissouni and her fiancé had said in court that they had been married in a religious ceremony but had not yet arranged a legal marriage contract. According to Maati Monjib, a historian, a prominent critical voice in Morocco and a friend of the Raissouni family, the pardon was a result of an intense national and international effort to release the five prisoners.
The police had said they detained her as she was leaving a clinic they were investigating for abortions. “I am very happy that Hajar has just been released,” Mr. Monjib said, adding that activists were about to increase their pressure campaign. “Several associations and personalities were meeting to create a committee for the release of Hajar.”
She and the doctor said she was there to receive treatment for a blood clot and denied that she had had an abortion.